Fight on Indian Reservation As Casinos Divide Mohawks

AP

Published: September 3, 1989

HOGANSBURG, N.Y., Sept. 2—
Pro- and anti-gambling factions of Mohawk Indians fought today in a seven-hour confrontation on the St. Regis Akwesasne Indian Reservation, but there were no arrests and only minor injuries, the state police said.

A feud over gambling has continued for months among the nearly 5,000 Mohawks who live on the reservation, which straddles the Canadian border near the St. Lawrence River. Six casinos, all on the United States side, draw busloads of gamblers, mostly from Canada. A week ago, a group of Mohawks opposed to gambling allegedly firebombed a newly-built casino.

Indians reported that about 25 members of the Warriors Society, a security force, had locked themselves in a Bingo hall, barricading the doors with tables and fighting off other Indians with fire extinguishers. The fight ended about 4 P.M. after the two groups met, said Maj. Ronald Brooks of the New York State Police.